CR..    HOT 

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Duke  University  Libraries 

(Report  of  the 
Conf  Pam  #433 


'   HOUSE  OF   REPRESENTATIVES,  Nov.   25,   1864.— Laid  m 
the  table  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

[By  the  Chair.] 


MESSAGE  OF  THE  PRESIDENT, 

In  response  to  a  resolution  of  the  House,  of  the  8th  instant,  relative  to  the 
special  exchange  of  prisoners  of  war. 

Richmond,  Va.,  Nov.  24,  1864. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  : 

In  response  to  your  resolution  of  the  8th  instant,  I  herewith  trans- 
mit a  communication  from  the  Secretary  of  war,  relative  to  the  special 
exchange  of  prisoners  of  war  by  the  Commissioner  of  Exchancje. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


COMMUNICATION  FROM  SECRETARY  OF  WAR. 

War  Department,  C.  S.  A.,  ) 
Richmond,  Nov.  21,  1864.      $ 

7^  the  President  of  the  Confederate  States  .* 

Sir  :  I  have  received  a  copy  of  the  following  resolution  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  referred  by  your  Excellency  to  this  De- 
partment : 

♦*  Resolved,  That  the  Presi<lent  be  respectfully  requested,  if  not 
incompatible  with  the  public  interest,  to  cause  to  be  furnished  this 
House  with  the  names  of  all  persons  specially  exchanged  by  the 
Commissioner  of  Exchange  of  prisoners  ;  also,  the  time  of  their  cap- 
ture and  date  of  exchange." 

In  resp'jnso,  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  a  report  from 
the  Agent  of  Exchange  upon  the  points  presented  in  the  resolution  of 
the  House. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  A.  SEDDON, 

Secretary  of  War, 


REPORT  OF  THE  AGENT  OF  EXCHANGE. 

Richmond,  Va.,  Nov.  18,  1864. 

Hon.  James  A.  Seddon, 

Secretary  of  War : 

Sir  :  In  the  matter  of  the  accompanying  redolution  of  tte  House 
of  Representatives,  I  have  the  honor  to  make  the  following  report: 

On  the  1st  of  November,  1864,  in  my  report  detailing  the 
operations  of  the  Exchange  Bureau,  I  used  the  follovring  language 
in  relation  to  special  exchanges,  to  wit : 

"An  error   respecting   special   exchanges   seems   to  prevail,  both 
amongst  our  people  and  captive  soldiers.     The  Federal  authorities, 
with  a  malignity  congenial  to  them,  in  the  hope  of  causing  irritation 
on  the  part  of  our  prisoners  toAvarda  their  Government,  have  basely 
and  falsely  represented    to    them   that    special    exchanges  are  being 
constantly  proposed  by  us.     A  long  time  ago  I  communicated  to  you 
the  many  grave  objections  to  any  such  system.     My  views  met  your 
entire  approval,  and  I  have,  accordingly,  constantly  refrained  from 
making  special  exchanges,  though  frequently  urged  to  do  so.     The 
officers  atid  soldiers  delivered  to  us  were  in  all  cases  selected  by  the 
enemy,  and  those  of  theirs  who  were  sent  in  return  were  designated 
by  us.     This  was  not  a  system   of  special   exchange   in  any  sense  of 
the  term.     If  the  oflicers  and  soldiers  sent  to   us  had  been  specially- 
asked  for,  or  if  their  return  had  been  caused  by  any  special  action  of 
the  Confederate  authorities  in  their  individual  cases,  there  would  have 
been  ground  for  the  belief  that  special  exchanges  were  being  made. 
The  efforts' of  the  Government   have   been   directed   to   the  release  of 
all  our  prisoners   without   any  discrimination   in   favor  of  particular 
persons.     To    have    pursued   any   other  plan   would  not   only  have 
showed   partiality   and   favoritism   where  all  have  tried  to  do  their 
duty  faithfully,  but  would  have  given  to  the  enemy  the  opportunity 
of   making    selections    from    their    own   prisoners   in   our    hands    to 
such  an   extent  as  would  have  precluded  all  hope  of  a  general  ex- 
change.    With  very   rare    exceptions,    I   have  never    knoY»'n   what 
officers  or  men  were  on  the  flag  of  truce  boat  until  1  visited  it.  Under 
your  iustructions,  all  of  our  prisoners  have  been  considered  as  occu- 
pying the   same   position,   and   each    one    on   his   return   has  been 
received  with  as  much  welcome  as  any  other.     I   repeat,    therefore, 
that    no    special  efforts   have  been   used   to    secure   the   release   or 
exchange  of  particular  persons,  and  every  line  of  policy  which  would 
put  any  one  of  our  prisoners  in  a  more  favorable    position   than  that 
occupied  by  the  others,  has  been  carefully   avoided.     The   published 
correspondence  of  this  office  shows  the   entire  readiness  of  our  Gov- 
ernment to  return  an   equivalent  for    any  Confederate  officer  or  sol- 
dier sent  within  our  lines.     Who   that  equivalent  shall  be,   we  have 


reserved  the  right  to  determine,  and  when  the  selection  is  made  and 
the  party  delivered  to  the  Federal  authorities,  it  is  simply  the  return 
of  an  equivalent  and  not  a  special  exchange.  To  refuse  to  return 
the  equivalent,  would  he  to  doom  our  officer  or  soldier  to  hopeless 
captivity  after  liberty  fiad  dawned  upon  him." 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  I  beg  leave  to  state  that  I  have  been 
frequently  importuned  to  procure  the  release  of  particular  individuals 
amongst  our  prisoners  at  the  North,  by  proposing  to  the  enemy  their 
exchange  for  any  persons  of  their  rank  who  might  be  designated  by 
them.  I  have  refused  to  do  so  in  any  case,  for  two  good  reasons. 
First,  it  made  a  discrimination  amongst  our  prisoners.  The  enemy 
holding  an  excess  of  officers,  such  a  rule,  even  if  all  the  Federal  offi- 
cers in  our  possession  had  been  sent  North,  would  hare  left  a  large 
number  of  our  people  in  prison.  Those  who  were  not  selected,  and 
their  friends  at  home,  would  have  had  just  cause  of  complaint  against 
their  Government  for  thus  leaving  them  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy, 
while  others,  with  no  better  claims,  had  been  selected  for  restoration 
to  liberty.  Secondly,  such  a  proceeding  would  have  enabled  the 
enemy,  in  a  very  short  time,  to  secure  the  release  of  buch  parties  as 
they  were  anxious  to  relieve  from  captivity,  and  for  whom  strenuous 
efforts  had  been  made  by  influential  friends.  If  the  enemy  in  this 
way  had  secured  the  release  of  some  two  or  three  hundred  of  their 
people,  they  would  have  cared  very  little  about  the  fate  of  the  others, 
and  thus  a  general  exchange  would  have  been  made  hopeless. 

For  the  same  reasons,  I  have  constantly  refused  to  send  Federal 
prisoners  North  on  their  parole  to  secure  the  release  of  specially 
named  parties.  I  have,  in  some  cases,  even  refused  to  recognize  the 
special  paroles  of  some  Confederate  officers  who  were  sent  home  to 
secure  the  release  of  some  particular  Federal  prisoner.  In  one  case 
the  Confederate  officer  was  sent  back  into  captivity.  In  others  I 
have  refused  to  send  the  designated  Federal  officer,  and  given  some 
other  equivalent.  The  Federal  authorities  perceiving  our  resolution 
in  this  respect,  have  for  some  time  past  refrained  from  giving  such 
paroles. 

Whilst  I  have  ignored  special  exchanges,  I  have  taken  every  means 
in  my  power  to  notify  our  prisoners  at  the  North  that  we  were  not 
only  anxious  for  their  release,  but  were  ready  at  all  times  to  give  an 
equivalent  for  any  officer  or  soldier  delivered  to  us,  and  at  the  time 
of  his  delivery.  The  only  exceptions  that  I  am  aware  of  to  the 
course  herein  indicated,  have  been  the  cases  of  the  exchange  of  Brig- 
adier General  Kemper  for  Brigadier  General  Graham,  in  September, 
1863,  and  Major  Thomas  D.  Armesy  for  Major  E,  Gotf,  some  three 
months  ago.  The  first  was  proposed  by  the  enemy  and  accepted  because 
it  convicted  the  Federal  Secretary  of  War,  before  his  own  people,  of 
gross  falsehood,  and  in  the  other  case  the  parties  had  been  respectively 
placed  in  close  confinement  and  in  irons,  one  in  retaliation  for  the 
other.  Brigadier  General  Kemper  was  captured  in  July,  1863,  and 
Majcr  Armesy  early  in  1S6S.  I  further  state  that  in  cases  of  retalia- 
tion, where  parties  on  both  sides  have  been  placed  in  close  confine- 
ment or  in  irons,  I  have  oftered  to  make  an  exchange  one  for  the  other. 


It  was  on  this  principle  that  Major  Armesy  was  exchanged  for  Major 
Goff.  I  trust  the  exception  of  this  class  of  cases  from  the  general 
rule  will  find  its  excuse  in  the  release  from  torture  of  those  true  and 
faithful  men,  who  have  served  their  country  so  well  as  to  call  down 
the  special  vengeance  of  our  foe. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD, 
Agent  of  Exchange. 


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